Resinous compositions



Patented Apr. 16, 1946 RE SIN OUS COMPOSITIONS Rupert S. Daniels, Union,

lite Corporation, tion of New Jersey N. J., assignor to Bake- New York, N. Y., a corpora- No Drawing. Application May 17, 1941, Serial No. 393,936

9 Claims. (01. 260-59) This invention relates to the manufacture of improved resinous compositions and comprises more particularly phenol-aldehyde resins that are hardened or cured to the insoluble and infusible state by the addition of acids and acid salts.

There are existent processes for modifying the buring or hardening properties of phenol-aldehyde type resins which are dependent upon the addition of organic or inorganic acids, or their acid salts, to the resin after initial condensation has taken place; these acid addition compounds are technically described as hardening agents, In general the purpose of adding acids is to obtain phenol-aldehyde resinous compositions which due to the catalytic action of the acids cure to the insoluble and infusible state without the application of heat, although occasionally they are added to accelerate the curing of resins at elevated temperatures. Of the inorganic acids for employment as hardening agents, hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid have been mentioned, and these acids give a rapid accelerating action; in fact in many instances the acceleration is too fast, for the hardening action begins immediately upon the first contact of the acid on the resin which in turn requires powerful mixing apparatus for rapidly mixing the acid into the mass of resin if every part is to be subjected uniformly and simultaneously to the acid catalyst. Even with the best possible stirring and manipulation of the acid into the resin, blistering, gassing, and entrapped vapors occur in the cured resin composition, rendering these products unsuitable for many commercial applications. When organic acids are substituted for sulphuric or hydrochloric acids, the curing action proceeds more smoothly and with less gassing; but these acids have the disadvantage of causing a very slow cure, and for this reason their use has been limited to applications where slow curing can be tolerated.

It has now been found that sulfamic acid, its derivatives and salts which have an acid type reaction, which can be expressed by the formula (R.NH.SO3)R wherein R drocarbon radical or the radical NH4SO3 and R is acation of valence x, such as ammonium sulfamate, are soluble in phenol-aldehyde resins and impart to these resins a desirable type and speed of hardening reaction either at room tem perature or at elevated temperatures with improved results such as more rapid gelation, better water resistance, and denser and stronger cured resinous compositions than otherwise obtainable.

is hydrogen or a hywith increasing amounts of Sulfamic acid is a relatively strong inorganic acid,

crystalline in form but non-hygroscopic, odorless, colorless and highly ionized in aqueous solutions. It is reported in the literature that aldehycles react with sulfamic acid to form products which are decomposable in water, acids and alkalies. It is therefore surprising to find that when sulfamic acid, or its acid type derivatives, is used to harden a phenol-formaldehyde resin known to contain a substantial amount of free formaldehyde, a cured product is obtained which is more water resistant than a similar phenol-aldehyde resin cured without the addition of sulfamic acid.

As is well known, phenol-aldehyde resins are manufactured by either the one-step or the two-step process. In the one-step process, one mol of phenol is customarily reacted with one mol or more of formaldehyde in the presence of acid or alkaline catalysts to produce a heat-reactive type resin. After a resin is formed, the water layer is removed by decantation, and the resin is further dehydrated by distilling off water usually under reduced timate application of the resin, the dehydration is interrupted when there is formed either a resin liquid at room temperature or a brittle resin upon more complete dehydration. The liquid one-step resins are commonly used to produce cast objects by pouring the resin into lead molds and then hardening or polymerizing the resin by the application of moderate heat for 15 to 24 hours; these resins are also used as coatings or bonds for abrasive structures such as sandpaper or grinding wheels, or as the bonding agent in brake lining structures.

Sulfamic acid and its derivatives have been found to be useful hardening agents for the liquid type of resin because controlled hardening rates result which materially reduce the time to heat cure this type of phenol-aldehyde resin. The quantity of sulfamic acid, or its acid derivatives, required to harden varies according to the pH value of the resin; but suflicient acid or acid salts are added to the liquid resin to reduce the pH value to below 6.0 and preferably below 3.0 if the most rapid hardening rate is desired. Practical tests made by adding increasing amounts of sulfamic acid (or its derivatives having an acid reaction) to a liquid phenol-formaldehyde resin and then curing the compositions on a steam hot plate at a temperature of C. have shown that the acid, up to 20 to 30 per cent of the weight of the resin, the speed of curing also increases; but with each type of phenol-aldehyde resin there is a point beyond which further addition of acid shows no correpressure. Depending upon the ulficient quantity (30 per cent) of sulfamic acid liquid one-step phenol-aldehyde resins have been cured to the hard infusible state in less than 10 hours at room temperature.

A convenient method of corporating sulfamic acid in the brittle phenol-aldehyde resins produced by the one-step process is to grind the resin to a fine powder and then thoroughly mix in the powdered resin the required amount of sulfamic acid which has also been finely ground.

Since sulfamic acid is non-hygroscopic, it will not react with the dry powdered resin at room temperature; thus these mixtures can be stored for long periods of time without deterioration. But upon the application of sufiicient heat to melt the resin, the sulfamic acid will dissolve in the resin and react with it, with the favorable effect of reducing the time to heat cure the resin to the insoluble and iniusible state as indicated above in connection with the liquid type of resin.

To produce phenol-aldehyde resins by the twostep process, usually less than a molof formalw dehyde is reacted with a mol of phenol, and after dehydration the resin is in a. fusible, brittle, and

soluble condition usually described as a novolakporosity formation caused by the reaction of the hexamethylenetetramine, that denser and stronger cured pieces are obtained without the necessity of using counter pressure during the heat curing operation.

As little as l per cent of sulfamic acid, or a derivative, incorporated in the dry state with a powdered two-step potentially reactive phenolaldehyde resin, shows that the volatile loss upon curing the resin to the infusible state at elevated temperature is considerably less than with an unmodified resin. In tests made by heating such resins which were modified for instance by the addition of 3 per cent sulfamic acid, there was only a 0.9 per cent volatile loss after heating the resin for 2 hours at a temperature of 160 C.; in this same test it was noticed that no foaming of the sulfamic acid modified resin occurred during the baking shedule, whereas the unmodifled resin foamed badly and .was porous and brittle. A. further confirmation of the denser resin obtainable by modification with sulfamic acid is that tensile tests made on grinding wheels bonded with a sulfamic acid modified resin show approximately 25 per cent higher values than other wheels bonded with resins regularly used in the abrasive industry for'bonding.

An improvement resulting from the employment of sulfamic acid in phenol-aldehyde resins generally, is the promotion of a faster initial gelling characteristic upon the-application of heat to the resin, thereby imparting quicker rigidity to molded structural shapes and permitting faster molding cycles. In the production of grinding wheels which have a bond composed of phenolaldehyde resins, the usual practice is to cold mold the wheels and then subject them to a prolonged baking cycle to polymerize and harden the resin bond; but during the baking process 2 2,898,361 sponding increase in rate of curing; With a sufwhen the resin is in a plastic state, support is required by the wheels to prevent them from warping or cracking, and the supporting means are generally beds of sand. When sulfamic acid, or an acid reacting derivative of it, is present in the phenol-aldehyde resin, the faster initial gelation of the resin enables the wheel structure to be self-supporting because of the short time that the resin is in a plastic condition.

Moreover, since the addition of sulfamic acid to phenol-aldehyde resins prevents blistering and swelling, particularly in dense abrasive structures subjected to relatively quick curing cycles, a shortening of the normal baking cycle is obtained without sacrificing good bonding properties.

A technical problem arising in a commercial application of phenol-aldehyde resins and solved by incorporating sulfamic acid is, for instance, the manufacture of abrasive coated papers and cloths, in which liquid type one-step phenol-aldehyde resins are used as bonding agents to hold the abrasive particles on the paper; these require a long baking schedule at low temperatures (50-l00 C.) to harden to the infusible state, and, although higher temperatures reduce the curing time, they have an unfavorable action on the paper or textile cloth basewhich leads to embrittlement and loss of strength. Attempts to use sulphuric or hydrochloric acids to speed up the hardening of the resin at'low temperature have not been successful becausethese acids embrittle or char the cellulose bases as much or more than the high baking temperatures. Organic acids have too little accelerating effect to be practical. But by employing sulfamic acid to harden the phenol-aldehyde resin, a rapid hardening action is obtainable at low temperature without having a deleterious effect on the paper or cloth base.

Another problem has been that of the bonding together of ceramic structures, such as segmental type grinding wheels, which are operated while partly submerged in hot water. Whereas a satisfactorily strong bond under dry conditions has been obtained with unmodified resins, the

strength of the resin bond has deteriorated rapidly when immersed in hot water. When a sulfamic acid modified phenol-aldehyde resin was used as the bonding agent, an unexpected increase instead of decrease in strength resulted when the bonded wheel was immersed in boiling water. It has also been found that the wet strength value of a sulfamic acid modified resin can be still further increased when small amounts (between 2 to 15 per cent based on the weight of resin) of a dihydric phenol, such as resorcinol, are added in conjunction with the sulfamic acid; resorcinol can be added as a powder, or it can be dissolved in suitable solvents, water or alcohol, for incorporation in a liquid type resin. Similarly, the sulfamic acid can be added in solution form, but for most purposes it is preferable to incorporate these hardening agents in the dry state in order to reduce the total amount of volatile matter in a resin which must be expelled during the curing of the resin.

'In the following examples, there is set out more specifically the optimum employment of sulfamic acid for various commercial uses of phenol-aldehyde resins. In place of sulfamic acid equivalent amounts of its derivatives or salts which have an acid type reaction can be substituted.

Example 1.-A liquid-one-step type of phenolimmersion formaldehyde resin was prepared with an alkaline and thinly coated on paper with immediate sprincatalyst. 76.4 grams of this resin were mixed kling on the surface of aluminous oxide granules with 114.4 grams of dry sand and 4 grams of sulfamic acid to form a pasty type cement. The bonding strength of this cement was tested by molding half briquets of the dimensions specified in A. S. T. M. Procedure for Testing Cement (C-7739), from bonded with a ceramic type bond and vitrified at a high temperature; the half briquets were cemented together by spreading a inch coating of the cement on the 1 inch by 1 inch faces of the half briquets and then placing the coated faces together and holding them in this position for 48 hours at room temperature. At the expiration of the 48 hours some of these briquets were tested for tensile strength on a standard Tinius-Olsen tensile testing machine, and the average tensile strength of the resin cement bond was found to be 219 pounds per square inch. The

remaining briquets were placed in boiling water for 65 hours and were then removed and tested for tensile strength; the average value was found to be 254 pounds per square inch. The fact that in boiling water improved the tensile strength of the bond was unexpected because the effect of boiling water on organic type bonds as resins is usually that of a pronounced weakening in strength value and in some instances complete disintegration of the bond.

For direct comparison with other acid hardeners, the same resin as employed in the above example was used to make a cement composed 76.4 grams at liquid and 9.2 cc. of an alcowater as the acid hardener for the resin. This cement was applied to the faces of half briquets in the same manner as described for the sulfamic acid hardened resin, and after curing for 48 hours at room temperature, some of these briquets were tested for tensile strength, and these showed average tensile strength of 364 pounds per square inch. The remainder of these briquets were immersed in boiling water for 65 hours, removed and immediately tested for tensile strength and the average value found was 163 pounds per square inch, thereby showing a loss of over 50 per cent in strength from the original dry strength value.

Example 2.Using the resin of Example 1, a cement composition was prepared by mixing 76.4 grams of the liquid resin with 11.5 grams of a mixture consisting of 66% per cent sulfamic acid and 33 per cent resorcinol, and then adding 114.4 grams of sand. The pasty cement thus formed was coated on the inch square faces of the half briquets prepared as in Example 1; the cement coated faces were pressed together and held in this position for 48 hours at room temperature. The bond of these briquets showed an average tensile strength of 170 pounds per square inch. Immersing some of these briquets after the 48 hour room temperature curing cycle, into boiling water for a period over 65 hours improved the tensile strength of the bond to an average value of 310 pounds per square inch.

Example 3.-For preparing an abrasive paper construction 15 parts by weight of a mixture consisting of 66 per cent by weight of, sulfamic acid with 33 per cent by weight of resorcinol, was thoroughly mixed with 100 parts byweight )f a one-step phenol-formaldehyde liquid resin No. 14 aluminous oxide grain then baked in an oven at bonded briquets showed strength of 1500 the coated abrasive grains;

of No.50 grain size. was baked for 16 hours at the low temperature of 55 C. and upon cooling the abrasive grains were found to have good adhesion to the paper with the paper still flexible and no indications of embrittlement. Treating a piece of cotton cloth in the same manner gave equally good results. These coated sheets showed excellent resistance to water and gasoline type solvents which is an important requirement of abrasive papers used for wet sanding operations.

Example 4.-A grinding wheel 4 inches by 2% inches in size was cold-molded under 5000 pound per square inch pressure, from a granular mix of 83 parts by weight composed of a mixture of equal parts of Nos. 12, 14 and 16 grain size aluminous 57 per cent of a phenolformaldehyde novolak resin containing 10 per cent by weight of hexamethylenetetramine and 4.4 per cent by weight of sulfamic acid. The cold molded grinding wheel was placed unsupported in of which was maintained and then gradually inhours, and the temperaan oven the temperature at 85 C. for 16 hours creased to 177 C. in 8 ture held for 16 hours.

tures) the grinding wheel was removed from the oven, allowed to coolto room temperature. It was found to have held its shape perfectly, showing no signs of swelling, blistering or cracks which would normally occur in grinding wheels bonded with unmodified phenol-aldehyde resins subjected to the same rapid temperature rise durs ing the curing operation. 4

Example 5.-Two series of standard figure I shaped briquets for testing were cold molded and baked using in one group a commercial unmodified phenol-aldehyde resin regularly used in bonding abrasive structures, and in the other group the same resin but modified by the addition of sulfamic acid. The procedure of preparing the briquets of the former group was to first wet 528 grams of No. 14 grain size of aluminous oxide grit with 18 grams of a liquid one-step type of phenolaldehyde resin then 54 grams of the finely powdered two-step type of a fusible phenol-formaldehyde resin containing 10 hexamethylenetetramine were well mixed with the mixture was cold pounds pressure per pressed briquets were 52 C. for 16 hours, gradually increased during the next 9 hours to 182 C. and held there for an additional 7 hours, after which the baked briquets were removed and cooled before testing. The foregoing procedure pressed using about 3000 square inch, and the cold was also followed with the sulfamic acid modification of the powdered two-step resin by using 4 grams of a mixture composed of parts by weight of the powdered two-step resin, 7 parts by weight of hexamethylenetetramine and 5 parts by weight of sulfamic acid. The briquets molded with the standard two-step resin showed an average tensile strength of 1200 pounds per square acid modified resin an average tensile pounds per square inch.

What is claimed is:

1'. Composition comprising a resinous reaction The abrasive coated paper At the end ofthis baking cycle (which is severe for such thick dense strucproduct in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants and a minor proportion of an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising a compound having an acid type reaction and of the formula (R'.NH.SO3):R wherein R represents a member of the group consisting of hydrogen, hydrocarbon radicals and NH4SOa-, R is a cation of valence a: and :c is a whole number.

2. Composition comprising a resihous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants and an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising sulfamic acid in amount up to thirty per cent by weight of the reaction product.

3. Composition comprising a resinous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants and an agent for accelerating the hardening comprising sulfamic acid in amount to cause hardening at room temperature.

4. Composition comprising a resinous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole-reactants and an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising sulfamic acid and dihydric phenol.

5. Composition comprising a resinous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants and an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising sulfamic acid up to thirty" per cent by weight of the product and a dihydric phenol up to fifteen per cent by weight of the product.

6. Composition comprising a resinous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants and an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising sulfamic acid and resorcinol.

'1. Composition comprising a novolak resinous reaction product'obtained from a phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants, a hardening agent in amount to render the product hardenable and an agent for acceleratin the hardening of the product comprising sulfamic acid.

8. Process of controlling the hardening of a resinous reaction product in hardenable form obtained from a phenoland an aldehyde as the sole reactants which comprises incorporating in the product an agent for accelerating the hardening thereof comprising a compound having an acid type reaction and of the formula (R.NH.SO:):R, wherein R. represents a member of the group consisting of hydrogen, hydrocarbon radicals and NH4SO3-, R is a cation of valence a: and a: is a whole number.

9. Process of controlling the hardening of a novolak resinous reaction produce obtained from a, phenol and an aldehyde as the sole reactants which comprises adding to the product in dry form a hardener and an agent for accelerating the hardening, said agent comprising suliamic acid, and heating the mixture to cause fusion and 30 hardening of the product.

RUPERT S. DANIELS. 

